This invention relates generally to tools having ratchet drive action, such as wrenches and the like, and more particularly to ratchet wrenches of the type having a single handle engageable with a plurality of tools for delivering a ratchet drive action.
The prior art shows a wide variety of ratchet wrench devices, including ratchet wrench devices having multiple tools attachable thereto. The most commercially successful wrenches of this general class have been the well-known socket wrench combinations, wherein a plurality of sockets are constructed for accommodating different nut sizes, each of them having a common size opening, usually square, for insertion into a ratchet handle having a projecting square shank. Such wrenches are widely used throughout the world in a wide variety of sizes. In the United States, socket wrenches are commonly sold having 1/8-inch, 1/4-inch, 3/8-inch and 1/2-inch shanks as drive members, with socket sets designed to accommodate these drive shanks. Further, a large number of adapters of various types have been developed for attachment to the drive shanks on wrenches of this type, in order to more readily accommodate the wrenches to different work situations.
A second general class of ratchet wrenches which have been widely accepted are box end wrenches having a ratcheting insert proximate one or both ends of a wrench handle. These wrenches are typically characterized by a handle member having a different sized ratcheting nut receiving tool proximate each end of the handle, wherein the nut receiving tools are permanently mounted in the handle. This class of wrenches usually requires a handle for each different pair of nut receiving tools, and thereby necessitates a collection of handles in order to accommodate a wide range of nut sizes. The advantage of this class of wrenches over the typical socket wrench is in that they are generally constructed with a narrow profile and are therefore more accessible into small openings for access to nuts which are hard to reach. The disadvantage of this class of wrench is that each handle will accommodate only two nut receiving tools, and therefore a workman must acquire a collection of these wrenches in order to effectively work on a wide variety of nut and bolt sizes. The ratchet mechanism for this class of wrench is typically uni-directional, requiring that the wrench be turned to one side or the other, depending upon whether a nut is to be loosened or tightened.
Common socket wrenches typically require two hands for inserting and removing the tool from the wrench drive mechanism. Some socket wrenches have a button-actuated spring-loaded detent which may be depressed with one hand, while the other hand readily removes the socket tool, while other socket wrenches require the removal of the tool by pulling it away from a spring-loaded detent mounted in the drive shank. In either case, two hands are required for this operation. Conversely, common socket wrenches suffer from the further disadvantage that on occasion the tool becomes separated from the drive mechanism by becoming jammed against a nut or bolt during use. In these cases it becomes necessary to forcefully remove the tool from its jammed position after the handle drive mechanism has slipped from engagement with the tool.
There is a need for a ratchet wrench mechanism which avoids the disadvantages summarized above, wherein the tool may be engaged and disengaged from the wrench with a one-hand operation, and wherein the tool is positively locked into engagement with the handle drive mechanism during use so that there is no way for the tool to become disengaged or separated from the handle mechanism unless the operator intends such disengagement to occur. Further, there is a need to provide a ratchet mechanism having the relatively thin profile of the second type of ratchet wrench described above, while at the same time having the capability of accepting multiple tools as described with reference to the socket wrench style summarized above.
It is therefore a principal object of the present invention to provide a ratchet drive member capable of ratcheting operation, and which is usable with a plurality of tools which may be readily engaged and disengaged from the handle.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a ratchet drive mechanism and tool combination which is a amenable to one-hand operation.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a ratchet drive handle mechanism which is adaptable for operation with socket tools of the type commonly used in commerce.